NEW YORK, March 27 (PTI) Two people were shot dead in a gurdwara in California, US, in what authorities have ruled out as a hate crime.
The shooting occurred around 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Gurdwara Sacramento Sikh Society, according to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi.
The shooting happened during the first Nagar Kirtan in gurdwara, a traditional community celebration for Indian religions such as Sikhism.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Gandhi said a fight broke out between the two men inside the temple.
Gandhi said one of the men shot another fighter’s friend. A second man involved in the fight shot the first man and fled. Gandhi said the second person is still at large.
According to the Fox40.com portal, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Gandhi said the shooting had nothing to do with a hate crime and described the incident as a shootout between two men who knew each other.
Gandhi said the confrontation between the two men started as a hand-to-hand fight that turned into a shootout. Gandhi said one of the suspects was described as an Indian male, while the other was in hospital.
Asked if there was an imminent threat to the area, the Indian-origin police official said the situation “looks very limited.”
“It puts a little bit of a stain on what was a peaceful, very happy day,” he said.
Two people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries at Kaiser Permanente Hospital south of Sacramento.
Delegates were seen leading two handcuffed men out of the parade around 3:30 p.m., but it was unclear if anyone was involved in the incident.
The men were positioned in the back of separate Sheriff’s Office patrol cars as dozens watched in near silence, many holding up their phones to document the incident. Deputies are expected to remain on site throughout the evening, combing through eyewitness statements and cellphone video.
The association held a parade on Sunday as part of Nagar Kirtan celebrations.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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